Villa Kérylos in Beaulieu-sur-Mer – a Greek house by the sea

An archaeologist who wanted to live like a wealthy Greek on Delos, an architect who took him at his word, and a wife who paid nine million gold francs. Villa Kérylos is the Riviera's most idiosyncratic house – and one of its most beautiful.

On the floor of the entrance hall is a single Greek word: XAIPE, "rejoice". Beside it lies an Alexandrian mosaic from the 1st century BC depicting a cockerel, a hen and her chicks – the family's symbols. Thus you are welcomed to Villa Kérylos, the house that the archaeologist Théodore Reinach had built on a rocky headland in Beaulieu-sur-Mer at the beginning of the 1900s. From the outside, it looks like a stark white villa by the water. From the inside, it is something else entirely: an attempt to recreate how a wealthy Greek lived on the island of Delos more than two thousand years ago.

Beaulieu-sur-Mer, which lies between Villefranche and Èze, was part of Villefranche until 1891. Around the turn of the century, it became a winter resort for Europe's elite, with guests such as Leo Tolstoy, Gustave Eiffel, Igor Stravinsky and newspaper magnate James Gordon Bennett Jr., who died here in 1918. Facts about the commune can be found on VERA PI's page about Beaulieu-sur-Mer.

The archaeologist, the architect and nine million gold francs

Théodore Reinach (1860–1928) was an archaeologist and expert on the Hellenistic period. Together with the architect Emmanuel Pontremoli, who was just as devoted to Greece as he was, he decided to build a house from Delos – but with all the very latest in comfort. Construction ran from 1902 to 1908 and cost nine million gold francs. The bulk of it was paid for by his wife Fanny Kann, related to the Ephrussi family: her cousin Maurice Ephrussi was married to Béatrice de Rothschild, who was at the same time building her villa on the other side of the Baie des Fourmis, on Cap Ferrat.

The name Kérylos means "sea swallow" in ancient Greek, probably referring to the terns or the flying fish that were still common along the Mediterranean shores a hundred years ago. The materials were the finest: Carrara marble, alabaster, exotic woods and lemon wood, with furniture inlaid with ivory, bronze and leather. Electricity, running water and central heating are skilfully concealed behind perforated panels.

Room by room through the Greek house

The heart of the house is the peristyle, a square courtyard surrounded by twelve columns in white Carrara marble. On the walls, Adrien Karbowsky and Gustave-Louis Jaulmes painted scenes from Greek mythology using an ancient technique, with motifs drawn from classical Greek ceramics. From the peristyle, you reach the bathroom, Balanéion, clad in grey-veined marble, and the library, the most spectacular room in the house.

In the library stand tall cabinets in fruitwood with inlays of ivory, boxwood and ebony, designed after a model found in Herculaneum in 1762. On the wall, Reinach had two Greek verses inscribed, which in translation read roughly: “Here, in the company of the Greek orators, scholars and poets, I create for myself a peaceful refuge in immortal beauty.” The furniture was designed by Pontremoli and made by the cabinetmaker Louis-François Bettenfeld.

The dining room, Triklinos, is octagonal with a wooden ceiling decorated with gold leaf on a blue background. Guests ate as in antiquity, reclining on leather-upholstered couches, and the tableware was made from the same Greek clays and oxides as ancient ceramics in order to achieve exactly the same colours. In Andrôn, the men's room, the walls are clad in purple marble from Seravezza and the floor mosaic depicts the labyrinth where Theseus fights the Minotaur. The small salon Oikos is dedicated to Dionysus, with a mosaic of grape harvesting and, hidden in a cupboard, a Pleyel grand piano.

From private home to museum

When Reinach died in 1928, he bequeathed the villa to the Institut de France, with a right of use for the family. During the Second World War, the Gestapo searched the heirs' home in Paris and confiscated paintings, the library and the archive concerning the villa's construction. The villa was classified as a historic monument in 1966 and became a museum the following year. It has also been the setting for state visits: on 24 March 2019, Emmanuel and Brigitte Macron dined here with China's president Xi Jinping and Peng Liyuan.

Baie des Fourmis and the promenade towards Cap Ferrat

After the visit, it's a natural choice to stroll along Baie des Fourmis, the bay between Beaulieu and Cap Ferrat, with its palm trees and Belle Époque atmosphere. From the villa, Promenade Maurice Rouvier continues, the flat seaside walk heading south towards Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat, where Villa Ephrussi de Rothschild awaits on the other side of the bay. For a finer dinner, Le Restaurant des Rois at La Réserve de Beaulieu holds a star in the 2026 Michelin Guide.

Beaulieu is also located near Èze and Monaco, and you can find more Riviera destinations at metromode.co.

For a weekend. For a lifetime.